Aside from Spellbooks, there are four other kinds of books in world of Elona: skill books, ancient books, diaries, and red books (including the four books of Rachel).
Skillbooks[]
Reading an "Art of (skill)" book will improve the level of that skill. The book won't do you any good if you haven't already learned the skill. They can be read an unlimited number of times (unlike spellbooks, which have limited charges). You can only read 1 skillbook every 24 hours, and attempting to read another during this period (whether the same or a different skillbook) gives a "You are bored" message. An exception to this is during bad weather ("You have nothing else to do"). But once the bad weather ends, attempting to read the book will just give you the 'bored' message until 24 hours have passed, as usual.
They can be bought from a magic vendor, found in dungeons and one is guaranteed to appear in the shelters made available during bad weather after talking to the innkeeper. A random skill book appears each time you enter the town shelter. You can also find a random skill book in the magic shop in Lumiest, which you can steal with the Pickpocket skill. A new skill book will be generated every time the skill book in the shop is stolen/destroyed.
Note that there are no weapon skill books. Also, due to a bug, there are no Pickpocket or Riding skill books either (you can still obtain these books with cheating, along with books of any other stat: Life, Mana, Speed, Luck, Attributes, Spells, Resistances).
Ancient Books[]
Ancient books are encoded scriptures required for the Mages' Guild Quests. They provide Abyss power according to their rank. You don't need to be in the guild to get Abyss power and dark fragments provide it as well. Successfully reading one counts as identifying it, (your Literacy skill determines the probability of success), and identifying an ancient book will increase its sale price, even if you are not on the quest for them. This will also train your Literacy skill as normal. Failing to read one of these books may result in effects similar to that of spellbook failure.
Values for the books are given in the quest page here.
Diaries[]
The diaries can be acquired by trading medals in Miral and Garok's Workshop, or from exploring dungeons. They will summon the corresponding owner of the diary to become a member of your party when read. Note that 'My Diary' and 'Strange Diary' are normal, readable books with no special effects.
- Little Sister's Diary: You suddenly get a younger sister!
- Girl's Diary: A young lady falls from the sky. She can throw random potions.
- Cat Sister's Diary: You suddenly get a younger cat sister!
- OlderSister's diary (Elona+): How...! You suddenly get an older sister!
- Dog sister's diary (Elona+): How...! You suddenly get an older dog sister!
- Butler's diary (Elona+): A butler falls from the sky.
Red Books[]
Red books are normal textbooks with no special function attached to them. Some of them explain features such as player-owned shops while others contain only useless but amusing text. They can be bought from general stores and magic vendors or found in dungeons.
- Beginner's Guide
- It's a bug
- Don't Read This
- Museum Guide
- Crimberry Addict
- Cat's Cradle
- Herb Effect
- Shopkeeper Guide
- Easy Gardening
- Water!
- Breeder's Guide
- Strange Diary
- Pyramid Invitation
- Card Game Manual
- Dungeon Guide
- Cryptic
- Nefia Syndrome / A Review on Nefian Psychosis
- Manners of Gift
- Group activities training
- Adventure living
- Grudges records
- Town Book
- Researcher's diary
- SOR110 Introduction to Sorcery
- Adventurers Quarterly Spring '18
- An Exercise in Team-Building
- Necromanual (Necro Manual)
- Witchcraft lecture handouts
- Secrets of the journal
- What is entertaiment?
- Are you still in that stage?
- You dig mining?
- What's in a performance?
- Gifting Gifts
- Observation report
- Mission Briefing
- Get on my level
- My Diary
- Dimensional Energy Report
- Quest Advice
- Fishing Introduction
Books of Rachel[]
Books of Rachel are a set of four rare and valuable books; unlike other red books, each one is worth a lot of gold once identified. Collecting the set is the objective of the Rare Books quest.
While uncommon, the books are not unique, so you will undoubtedly find multiple copies of each. A copy of the fourth book will always be found in the mansion of younger sister.
Book of Resurrection[]
A rare drop from mummies (including lesser mummies). Reading this will allow you to revive any allies or town NPCs that has died recently in the area.
Reviving a pet earns you their affection, negating the loss from death. Doing so for a town NPC nets you 2 Karma, and permanently anchors them into the spot you revive them at (i.e. they will return there even if killed another time.)
Reading a cursed book of resurrection summons a swarm of undead creatures.
Mysterious diary[]
The mysterious diary is a book that can be made in the pot for fusion in Elona+. It can be made with a summoning diary and any other book (but not spellbook or ancient book). It appears to summon monsters based on your level, which will be neutral to you until provoked.
Omake Overhaul[]
In Omake overhaul, Weapon skill textbooks can appear and pets will read textbooks if they have them in their inventory.
Pornographic books can be read. And can "of $NPC", like corpses and body parts.